I recently purchased a new adult romance novel and blissfully began reading. It was absorbing fiction and I blasted through it only to find on the last page that it was the dreaded cliffhanger. There was no resolution, no happy (or unhappy) ending. In fact, it ended in the middle of a sentence.
I sat there, mouth open, in horror. What? I had no idea it was a cliffhanger. There were no hints in the blurb or book description. Nothing on the cover suggested that it was part of a series. Thanks to Kindle I was able to download the next book. I read that one as well and…guess what? Another cliffhanger. Seriously? At least the second time I was prepared.
As you may have guessed, I am not a fan of the cliffhanger. I like things to be resolved, neat and tidy, so that I may move on with my life. Now, that doesn’t mean I am against series. I want to follow the characters I love. The McCarthy series by Marie Force is one of my favorites. Each book is a complete story but continues on with the lives of characters from former books. The Outlander novels by Diana Gabaldon are another good example of a well-done series.
And I don’t want you to think that I don’t read cliffhangers because I do. I just like to be warned in advance that the story involves multiple books. I devoured the Fifty Shades series and Sylvia Day’s Crossfire series. Loved them! I also knew in advance what I was getting into.
How about you? What are your feelings about cliffhangers?
Kim Handysides
Hate em Jeanna. They’re the devil’s own.